Bir-Mecherga
# Bir-Mecherga

Bir Mcherga ( Arabic : بئر مشارڨة ) is a town and commune in the Zaghouan Governorate, Tunisia in the northwest of Tunisia, the site of former Roman North African city and bishopric Giufi, which only remains as Latin Catholic titular see.

It is located fifty kilometers southwest of Tunis at 36° 31 'north, 9° 58 'east, in the Zaghouan Governorate. As of 2004 it had a population of 7,203.

## Modern town

Bir Mchergais is a municipality of 7203 inhabitants and the chief town of a 'delegation' of 21 508 inhabitants comprising several sectors including that of Djebel Oust.

The city participates in the loosening of the industrial activities of the capital, notably because of its situation on the RN3 . With Djebel Oust, it hosts three large industrial zones on more than 300 hectares. Its labor force employs more than 35% in industry (21% nationally).

Bir Mcherga is located a few kilometers from the dam of Bir Mcherga, one of two dams on the Wadi Miliane, located 35 kilometers from its mouth in the Gulf of Tunis Benefiting from a watershed of 1,442 km 2, its reservoir lake irrigatean area of 1,600 hectares while avoiding the flood spectrum for the capital.

## History

Giufi was among the many cities of sufficient importance to become a suffragan diocese in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, in the papal sway.

It historically documented bishops were, as phrased in the sources :

* Victor, episcopus plebis Iufitanae, who intervened at the Council of Carthage called in 411, among the Catholic bishops, without schismatic counterpart of the disputed and condemned heresy Donatism
* Fortunius, episcopus ecclesiae Ofitanae, participant at the African council of 646 which pronounced against monothelitism as a heresy on instigation of monk Maximus the Confessor.

## Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Latin titular bishopric of Giufi (Latin = Curiate Italian) / Giufitan(us) (Latin adjective).

Bishops of Giufi :

| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 25 December 1949 | 25 April 1959 | John Baptist Hubert Theunissen, S.M.M. | Simultaneously Apostolic Vicar of Blantyre in Malawi. On 25 April 1959 appointed as Archbishop of Blantyre. |
| 10 October 1959 | 14 December 1978 | Bogdan Stefanov Dobranov | Previously a priest. On 22 July 1975 appointed as Apostolic Vicar of Sofia-Plodviv in Bulgaria. On 14 December 1978 appointed as Bishop of Sofia-Plovdiv. |
| 14 September 1980 | 29 July 1985 | Petar Čule | The only Archbishop of Giufi. Previously Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan in Yugoslavia. Died in office. |
| 28 August 1987 | 6 November 2004 | Edouard Mathos | Simultaneously Bishop Coadjutor of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic. On 6 November 2004 appointed as Bishop of Bambari in the Central African Republic. |
| 9 March 2005 | 26 September 2012 | Tomé Ferreira da Silva | Simultaneously Bishop Coadjutor of São Paulo in Brazil. On 26 September 2012 appointed as Bishop of São José do Rio Preto in Brazil. |
| 20 February 2013 | 31 May 2017 | José Mário Scalon Angonese | Simultaneously Bishop Coadjutor of Curitiba in Brazil. On 31 May 2017 appointed as Bishop of Uruguaiana in Brazil. |
| 31 July 2017 | 30 May 2020 | Jesús Castro Marte | Simultaneously Bishop Coadjutor of Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic. |
| 4 November 2020 | present | Valter Magno de Carvalho | Simultaneously Auxiliary Bishop of São Salvador da Bahia in Brazil. |
| Sources: ||||
